The Dragon Races- Part 29

Everlys glared down at the gaping hole, then looked over at Jen. "Think, Shifter." she hissed. "Remember something." 

For once, she wasn't in control. Even when she killed, she had a position of power. She held the knives, the throwing stars, the magic capable of moving objects to her will that could drag a person to their knees before she delivered the final strike. She would choose to stare down at their limp body afterwards, collect what she needed to, and leave. Though she obeyed commands, she always had a say in how the kills were done. But here... this girl was in control. This tortured, weak-minded Shifter with a clouded memory. A girl who remembered Althea, but couldn't remember enough to bring her back.

"Fine." Everlys's voice was cold and jagged. "I'm the only one who could actually do anything if there is something down there, so..." She whipped back to face Eriene as the Foranian grabbed her arm. She yanked her limb away. "Don't touch me." Each word was barely a whisper.

The fear from when Eriene had made contact with her flitted away from her eyes, replaced with disgust and an emotionless blue. She tugged her sleeve down, slowly flexing her wrist and furrowing her brows when the muscles didn't twinge with a sharp pain.

Everlys glanced over at Alaric, fingers digging into the hem of her sleeve as she looked away. Therin, Eriene, Alaric, Jen... they were all looking at her. Four sets of eyes, all focused on her and her alone.

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A young, fawn-eyed girl stared down the row. At the woman making her way up, each girl at a time, staring at their figures compassed in two tight swaths of black fabric. One around their waists and cut off mid-thigh, the other under their arms and around their chests.

The woman pushed one of the girls in line back. A brown skinned, brown haired girl who stumbled back. Her name was lost in the sea of bodies, all with arms at their sides and heads bowed in terrified, fraudulent reverence. In the swarm of names tumbling through the girl's head. The names she heard of the royal family, of her cousin newly selected to serve at the palace, of her own name- Everlys- offering none of the comfort the sharpness of the end or the elegant curve of the letters it usually did. Her name was just another in line.

"Weak."

She shivered at the voice- the cold, derogatory voice she heard once a month. She looked down as the woman came to a stop in front of her. Don't make eye contact. Do as told. Never, ever disobey. 

"...Deverell, correct?" The woman muttered, glancing up and down her figure then back at her tablet. Everlys nodded. "Fifteen, no family background besides a cousin at the palace" The sound of her clicking tongue made Everlys flinch. "Ah, a younger sister." A small smile flickered on the edges of her red painted lips. "Doing this for her, I assume?" Everlys nodded. She tried to control her breathing, to whisper internally that this would be fine. Nothing would come of it. She would resume training after, then go home to her sister, only to be Teleported back in the morning. 

Everlys didn't hear what she said next, so caught up in the lines of her mind's terror she missed the next words out of the scarlet-painted mouth. 

She gave a small cry as the woman forced her chin up, nails digging into her fair-skinned cheeks.

"Look at me, I said." 

Everlys met the woman's eyes. Cold, cold black. Like the dark-metaled knives she was being taught to wield.

"You're very pretty, you know." The woman whispered. Her hand traveled to Everlys's hair, twirling a strand of gold between her sharp-nailed fingers before dropping it. "There are many places in Sinistra for girls like you with slim waists and curves promised to fill out." She gave another of those sinister smiles. "It would be... such a shame if you were to be wasted. Either at a place like that or... here." 

*********************

Everlys looked away. The eyes terrified her. Brought back memories of a time she wanted to forget. She stalked back to the entrance of the cavern, holding up her hand and sending a small trickle of stone tumbling to the ground and clattering next to her. 

"We can last ten days without food, three without water. And less if... anything comes for us."

She stared at Eriene. She curled her consciousness into a tight line, focusing it through the untrained barriers of the Wind Elemetal's head. "You have a brother, right?" She pushed further, digging up memories of a curly blonde haired boy. "Nikolai. Niko."

"Get... get out of my head, Everlys."

Everlys closed her mind, nodding to Alaric. "You have Altair. And..."

She didn't look at Therin. She could feel the darkness curled around his body, something that, if a solid object, she would have the ability to otherwise control. But... she couldn't move it. Or alter it. She couldn't do anything without risking having these people as her adversaries. And Therin was too powerful to fight, especially with his newly given condition. Eriene... was more powerful than she knew. And the Shifter was... well, a Shifter. Her magic would bring back memories of Althea. And Alaric...

Everlys wouldn't think about him. It hurt too much. 

Alaric was someone she needed to protect- a placeholder, almost, for Althea. An undeniably attractive, seventeen-year-old Foranian who was hiding... something from her. From everyone, except maybe Eriene.

Her face turned cold at the thought of the Wind Elemental. The Empath. The quiet, shy girl shielding her only clue to Althea in her hands. Or, technically, her fingers curled tightly around the Shifter's sleeve.

"Never mind."

She didn't like the jealousy that coursed through her as Eriene looked up at her. Both of her eyes, a shimmering blueish-brown, knew what she felt. Knew her deepest secrets, knew everything. 

"Get out of my head, Empath." Everlys glared at Eriene, jaw tightly clenched and fists balled tightly around the cuffs of her sleeves. Get. Out.

"I'm sorry." Eriene murmured. She looked down at the ground. "I... don't know how to not to." 

She scoffed, crossing her arms. She didn't bother to toss a strand of blonde out of her eyes. "Don't deliberately search people's minds and emotions. If you feel them, ignore them. Put up whatever mental wall they taught you to build in school and give everyone the privacy they want." 

Everlys didn't wait for an answer to silently slip out of the cavern. Everyone's eyes were on her again until the turned the corner and broke into a run. 

She wouldn't get lost- her magic would be able to guide her back. She couldn't hide- Eriene or Alaric could use their magic to find her. She was... trapped. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Except back to face herself.

And as Evelrys sank against the wall, hopelessly lost in the faint, counterfeit light of the claustrophobic tunnels, that was the last thing she wanted to do.

So instead, she cried.

And hoped that her sister was faring better than she was.